NEW: Zimbabwe-Mozambique-Zambia Transfrontier Park (ZIMOZA): The Facts

President Mnangagwa, his Mozambican counterpart President Filipe Nyusi and Zambia’s Minister of Tourism Mr Rodney Sikumba today signed the Zimbabwe-Mozambique-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area (ZIMOZA TFCA) Memorandum of Agreement.

President Mnangagwa, President Filipe Nyusi of Mazambique and Zambia’s Tourism Minister Rodney Sikumba have signed the ZIMOZA TFCA Memorandum agreement at State House in Harare this afternoon. – Picture: Believe Nyakudjara

BASIC FACTS

The area covered by the park is 29 859km2
Area consists of four districts – Mbire in Zimbabwe, Zumbo and Magoe in Mozambique and Luangwa in Zambia.
Located at the confluence of Zambezi River and Luangwa River, the area covers national parks, management areas, safari areas and communal land

Until today’s meeting, ZIMOZA was still at the conceptual level, although the process towards formalising the Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) development was initiated in 2002
The initiative was being spearheaded by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) from 2002-2003 and later in 2008 by the African Wildlife Foundation in conjunction with Zambia Wildlife Authority

Approximately 600 000 people reside in the TFCA and their livelihoods depend on natural resources such as water, fish, wildlife and forests. The focus for the governments is to ensure that tourism benefits communities and contributes to poverty eradication across the area.
If formally consummated, this will become one of the many projects within SADC testifying to the power of integration and coordination in managing natural resources in the region